Groundcom, a technology startup from Brno, which is building a global network of ground stations for more affordable communication with satellites, has received an investment of EUR 1.5 million. Electron Capital Partners, Garage Angels and JIC Ventures participated in the seed round. The investment will allow the company to strengthen further development of its own hardware and expand its network coverage to South America, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Groundcom develops and operates its own ground stations for communication with satellites in low Earth orbit. Their solutions are now used by customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company wants to create a network that allows connectivity without waiting for a satellite to fly over a specific antenna in a short window of time.

“Our goal is to build a network so dense that satellites will ideally be in continuous communication with their operators. Not just, say, an hour a day, as is currently the case. This will enable the applications we dream of today, such as live 4K footage of any place on Earth in real time,” explains Jakub Laimon, founder and CEO of Groundcom.

Expansion and growth with strategic timing

With the new investment, the company plans to install 2-3 more antennas outside Europe, mainly in Australia, South America and Southeast Asia. This will enable it to serve customers who operate constellations of satellites – i.e. dozens of satellites with global reach. Groundcom currently works with partners in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Japan and the US.

“The investment gives us the time and resources to tighten up ongoing collaborations into long-term contracts. This is necessary for global growth because the decision cycle in this industry is longer, but the resulting partnerships last for years,” adds Laimon.

Investors support global ambitions

The largest investor in the seed round is Electron Capital Partners, the family office of the founders of Tescan, a successfully sold electron microscope company in Brno. This is their second investment in a startup, having invested in January 2023 in TecuMed, a technology company specialising in the development and manufacture of innovative medical devices for individual patient care.

“Groundcom is a great example of a globally oriented deeptech startup with a vision and technology that can change the industry. We see the investment as supporting new infrastructure for the growing space industry,” says Marek Nechvátal of Electron Capital Partners.

Due to their experience with tech startups in the region, the investors from Garage Angels led the negotiations. “Groundcom represents exactly the type of tech startup we like to invest in – it has a clear vision, is developing a team and is solving a real problem for the growing space industry. Jakub Lajmon has managed to build a functional business with international reach and the potential to transform the way we communicate with satellites,” says Aleš Filipenský on behalf of a group of individual investors mostly from South Moravia.

Another investor is JIC Ventures, which has been following and supporting the company for a long time. “Groundcom is a successful client of the innovation agency JIC. We have been working with the company for several years, during which it has gone through the Prototype and Verify programme and received support from the ESA BIC space incubator. It is a global business driven by an ambitious and powerful founder in an area that has huge growth potential,” comments Radim Kocourek, Managing Director of JIC Ventures.

Finance for development and growth of the team

Groundcom will use part of the investment to further develop the hardware – with the aim of increasing equipment reliability and streamlining production. The company is also recruiting new talent – looking for mechanical and RF engineers, project coordinators and software developers.

Including the latest investment, the startup has raised a total of €2.24 million from investors in three investment rounds. In the past, the company has been backed by, for example, Pixel Federation founder Šimon Šicko, Sygic co-founder Michal Štencl and financial investors from New York.

source in Czech: JIC Brno